When a court orders child support, the court then expects the parent who has been ordered to do so to make the support payments on time, every time. After all, the custodial parent and, by extension, any children affected very likely depend on the child support payments for financial support. Unfortunately, there are parents all over Florida that do not make their child support payments regularly, if at all. A judge in a fellow southern state is sending a message to parents that do not pay — a message that all parents that are not paying their court-ordered child support need to hear.
A circuit court judge has accepted a guilty plea from a mother for failure to pay court-ordered child support. The mother was charged with two felony counts of non-support and it is for both that she has been sentenced. The judge´s sentence includes 5 years in prison, which has been suspended, an order to pay $5,000 in back child support immediately, an order to pay court costs and extradition costs and an order to pay $270 per month in addition to her regular child support payments until she is no longer in arrears.
The Mississippi judge has been tough on this mother. From the amount that she has been ordered to pay, one knows that she owes the father of her children over $5,000 in back child support. That sum can make a big difference to a family in these tough economic times.
In Florida, the Department of Revenue spends a substantial amount of time and money each year collecting, disbursing and enforcing child support payments, but they cannot do it all. Sometimes, as in this case, it takes a drastic measure to get a parent to pay his or her court-ordered support payments. A custodial parent owed past due child support typically has hopes of hearing a judge rule as this one did — in favor of the children.
